Home Office

Asylum: Afghanistan

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers arriving from Afghanistan.

Victoria Atkins: There is a significant cross Government effort underway to ensure Afghans evacuated to the UK receive the support they need to rebuild their lives. This includes working at pace with local authorities, NGOs, and the commercial sector to secure employment and suitable housing and ensure they have the support they need.We have seen more than 200 local authorities come forward with commitments to offer housing to displaced Afghans as part of our resettlement plans and we work closely with them to ensure housing meets the needs of those being resettled.

Asylum: Afghanistan

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's Afghanistan resettlement and immigration policy statement, published on 13 September 2021, what the UKVI's timeframe is for contacting recent arrivals as part of the ARAP Scheme or Afghan Locally Employed Staff Scheme in respect of their leave arrangements.

Victoria Atkins: Following the policy statement the Government published on 13 September, we are working through the cases of those who have recently arrived from Afghanistan and will be processing them in line with the published policy. No one will be required to leave the United Kingdom, or be disadvantaged in any way, while we work through their cases.We issued new guidelines that mean former locally employed staff (LES) under the ARAP scheme who meet the requirements for entry clearance will be issued with indefinite leave to enter. Relevant Afghan citizens already in the UK with limited leave can apply for indefinite leave to remain at any time.

Refugees: Afghanistan

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who have arrived in the UK via the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme have been housed in (a) hotels, (b) self-contained accommodation, (c) permanent accommodation and (d) hostels.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is working at pace to develop the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme. It will relocate 5,000 vulnerable people in its first year. The ACRS is one of the most generous schemes in our country’s history, which will give up to 20,000 people at risk a new life in the UK over coming years.Nobody has arrived in the United Kingdom under this newly announced scheme to date, but some of those who arrived in the UK under the evacuation programme, which included individuals who were considered to be at particular risk, will be the first to be resettled under the ACRS.

Department for Education

Children's Centres: Closures

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of Sure Start centres that have (a) closed and (b) reduced the services they provide in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England since 2010.

Vicky Ford: Based on the information supplied by local authorities as of 31 August 2021, the attached table  sets out the number of Sure Start children’s centres sites that have closed in Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands and England since 2010[1]. The Department does not routinely collect data on the services provided by children’s centres. This data is held at a local level.  [1] Source: This is based on information supplied by local authorities on the number of children’s centres in their area to Get Information about Schools (GIAS) database about the location of https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk and internal management information held by the department as of 31 August 2021. These figures may be different to previous answers and could change again in future since local authorities may update their data at any time. The GIAS collects data on children’s centres that local authorities have closed on a permanent basis. It does not collect data on children’s centres that local authorities may have closed temporarily in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.Table_showing_centres_closed_PQ45140 (xlsx, 10.3KB)

Department of Health and Social Care

Long Covid: Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of long covid on workforce planning within the NHS; and what steps he is taking in response to that matter.

Edward Argar: The National Health Service will continue to monitor the impact of ‘long’ COVID-19 on staff as part of operational planning for service recovery and winter. For NHS staff suffering from ‘long’ COVID-19, the support offer includes a package of comprehensive support for health and wellbeing including mental health hubs, rapid referral to services, local occupational health and online wellbeing resources.

Health Professions: Training

Ed Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact on applicants of Health Education England’s change in policy to require applicants to have two years of qualified practice before receiving funding.

Edward Argar: We have made no such assessment.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit: Lone Parents

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support single parents in receipt of universal credit with young children to find work that fits around their childcare needs.

David Rutley: Under Universal Credit, working families can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month The UC childcare aligns with the wider government childcare offer. This includes the free childcare offer which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, doubling for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week. The UC childcare cost element can be used to top up a claimant's eligible free childcare hours if more hours are worked and childcare is required. This means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work. Additional safeguards apply during this period and any work-related expectations will be limited to a maximum of 16 hours per week whilst they are caring for a pre-school age child. To assist single parents with making necessary childcare arrangements, work coaches can reduce the maximum time the claimant is expected to spend travelling to and from work. All Work-related requirements will be tailored according to the claimant’s capability and personal circumstances, to ensure they are realistic and achievable.

Universal Credit: Deductions

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit claimants had deductions made to their monthly payment (a) in March 2020 and (b) in the most recent month for which figures are available, by (i) categories of third party debt deductions, (ii) advance payments and (iii) benefit overpayments and (iv) other types of deductions.

Will Quince: We carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments, with support for claimants. Safeguards are in place to ensure deductions are manageable. From 12 April 2021, we further reduced the cap on deductions from Universal Credit awards to 25 per cent and lengthened the period from 12 to 24 months, meaning in effect someone can receive 25 payments over 24 months, giving them more flexibility over the payments of their Universal Credit award. This will also allow claimants to retain more of their award, giving additional financial security, and follows a previous change in October 2019 that reduced the cap from 40% to 30%. Customers can contact the Department if they are experiencing financial hardship to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment, depending on their financial circumstances, whilst work coaches can also signpost claimants to other financial support. The information requested is provided in the attached spreadsheet.Spreadsheet (xlsx, 12.0KB)

Department for International Trade

Ceramics: Exports

Jonathan Gullis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to help increase global export opportunities for British ceramics.

Mike Freer: The British ceramics industry is world-renowned and can access new markets more easily through our future Free Trade Agreements. For example, in June, we reached Agreement in Principle with Australia. This fundamentally liberalising agreement removes tariffs on all UK exports, including ceramics. Alongside our trade deals, we provide a range of exporting support to help businesses grow internationally, including trade advisers locally and overseas; financial exporting support from UK Export Finance’s specialists; access to the UK Export Academy and the Digital Exporting Programme. This includes access to one-to-one guidance on digital sales and marketing. Businesses interested in more information on export opportunities for British ceramics can visit https://www.great.gov.uk/.